You Need a Little Soul
by Muddi the Mudkip
Summary: "Tawni, we're not talking about Grady. We're talking about you liking Nico!" "…What?" "Is it true?" Tawnico/Taco/Whatever you call it one-shot


**After taking a small break from my current story, A Lifetime Mine, Forever Yours, I decided to read a few Tawnico/Taco/Whatever you call it fics, when I realized that there were barely any. With a feeling of despair, I have felt that it is now my duty to spread the joy of Tawnico/Taco/Whatever you call it.**

* * *

Tawni Hart sat in her dressing room doing her nails. Today was her interview with Cathy Quick, the famous talk show host of _Chatting with Cathy Quick_.Tawni gave her nails another coat. She wanted this interview to be perfect. Not that she wasn't perfect already, but if she did this well, it could lead to many different things. Many _wonderful _things.

See, this was her first solo interview with any talk show. Her first talk show with Sonny was a disaster, so this time, Tawni was determined to make this one flawless. Not to mention the fact that she heard a famous movie director would be watching it. Like mentioned before, many wonderful things could come out of this interview.

Tawni checked herself out in her mirror. She pouted. There was something missing, she could just feel it. Jewelry, check_. _Makeup, check. Hair, check. Matching shoes and dress, check. What was wrong?

_Remember, _Sonny's voice came on in her head, _it doesn't matter if you look good. All that really matters is what you say. Just remember to have a little a bit of soul, and things will be alright._

Soul. That's what she needed. Right now, she was an empty carcass full of nothing but greed and egotism. Tawni shuddered. She had been reading too many poetry books lately, thanks to Sonny who got her hooked on them.

Tawni scanned her brain for any more random pieces of advice Sonny had given her. Thanks to her dating Chad, Sonny had been on dozens of talk shows and became something of an expert on them. Thus, Tawni had consulted Sonny numerous times to get all the details about live interviews. Imagine, Tawni Hart, the Hollywood superstar, taking guidance from Sonny, the Wisconsin small town girl. Tawni grimaced.

An alarm on her phone told her that it was time to depart. On her way out the door of her dressing room, Tawni took one last look at her mirror, flipped her hair, and said, "You can do this! You are pretty!"

Tawni left the dressing room with full confidence.

* * *

Tawni entered the studio with full insecurity. She couldn't do this interview! She was going to mess up! All signs pointed to foreboding doom!

_Get a hold of yourself, Tawni. You're okay, you're fine. Nothing is going to go wrong. You are going to ace this interview, and you are going to get into a major motion picture with that director in the audience. Cathy Quick is one of the best interviewers in the biz. She always makes sure the interviewee isn't embarrassed. Or at least, she tries to. Who am I kidding, this is going to be awful!_

"Miss Hart, you're on in five," a stagehand said to her.

Tawni took a deep breath. This was it. The fate of her career laid in the hands of Cathy Quick.

"Wow, that dog was a hoot! Let's all give another round of applause to Sassy, the attitude pooch!" After the applause died down, Cathy said, "Now, I know your hands are sore from all your clapping, but you have a good reason to keep applauding when you hear about our next guest. She's the funny and sparkly blonde on the hit comedy TV show, _So Random!. _Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce, the one, the only, Tawni Hart!"

Loud cheering. Tawni gulped and stepped on stage. She didn't remember the lights being this bright. Was she dying? Somehow her feet had lead her to her chair and her hand was outstretched in handshake.

"Welcome, Tawni!" Cathy said cheerfully. "It's so great to have such a famous actress as yourself on our show."

Tawni's mouth wasn't working very well, so she just nodded her head dumbly. When she realized what she was doing, she stuttered, "Ye-yeah, it's a pleasure to be here."

Cathy, noticing her stumble, decided to glaze over this. "So, Tawni, how are you enjoying working on _So Random!_? I hear this is your fifth year, am I correct?"

Tawni, determined to make up for her lame beginning, nodded her head furiously. "Yes. Well, almost. We're finishing up our fourth season pretty soon."

"And how about your costar, Sonny? Have you been liking working with her? It's been a year since Mandy left and she replaced her, right?"

"We had a bit of a rough beginning, but I can honestly say now that we are… we are…" Tawni pretended to cough as to not come off like she was having trouble speaking. Why couldn't she say the word friends?

"Here, I have a bottle of water for you," Cathy offered, handing her a purified water bottle.

"Thank you," Tawni said graciously. She started chugging it down. _Relax! Remember what happened with Chad on his first date with Sonny? _

"What about your other cast mates?" Cathy inquired. "Tell me a bit about Zora."

"She's as insane as the characters that she plays. One minute I'll find her in the air ducts, and the next, she's in her favorite sarcophagus."

Cathy chuckled. "She does seem a bit eccentric, doesn't she?"

"You're telling me!"

"So, Tawni," Cathy said while still laughing a bit, "how are the boys of _So Random!_?"

"They're always in these crazy shenanigans. Like one day, I walked into our Prop House and they were busy searching for elves that had magically stolen their cold cuts. I still suspect Zora had taken the platter for her cold cut catapult. But that's another story, Cathy."

"Well," Cathy said, "we've heard a few rumors about you liking a certain member of your cast. Do you want to elaborate more on it?"

"Oh, no, Grady's a sweet boy, but I don't think I would like him in the way you're thinking of. He's just a bit too immature for my tastes."

"Tawni, we're not talking about Grady. We're talking about you liking Nico!"

"…What?"

"Is it true?" Cathy was on her seat urging me on. However, she said, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"Well-" Tawni started to say, but she was cut off by one look at the crowd. They all had expressions on their face, clearly dying to know what her answer was.

"I really like him." Tawni said before thinking things through. "He's always been kind to me and, you know, he's so suave!"

Cathy's face lit up. "So, how long have you liked him?"

"I always considered us friends since the beginning of our show, but it wasn't until Sonny came that I really started liking Nico as something more."

There was a collective "Aww!" in the audience. "That's so romantic!" Cathy squealed, her face full of wonder and romance. "Anything else you want to tell us?"

Tawni opened her mouth to say something, but her sane mind brought her back to reality. _What are you doing? You're about to spill your biggest secret on national television!_

"I shouldn't have told you that," Tawni said, her voice faltering. "I should not have told you that."

Cathy, realizing what she might have started, quickly announced, "Well, folks, that's all the time we have today! Let's all give Tawni a big round of applause! And remember, if it doesn't have my name in it, you're not watching _Chatting with Cathy Quick_! Good night, everybody, and have a safe trip home!"

"And, we're clear! Good show everybody!" The director applauded the staff and Cathy as Tawni sat in her seat, wondering what might happen next.

* * *

Tawni entered Condor Studios with a paper bag in one of her hands, just in case she had to bring it out and pull it over her head. However, in her other hand, Tawni was carrying a baseball bat to whack Sonny with. This was her fault! Tawni had tried doing the interview with a little soul and look where it got her.

She entered her dressing room and put down her paper bag and bat in a safe place.

"Hey, Tawni!" a voice behind her said cheerfully, scaring the heck out of Tawni.

"Sonny!" she cried disdainfully. "Don't freak me out like that!"

"Sorry! Sometimes I can't help but scream excitedly when I see one of my friends."

"Whoops, I forgot to hear the friendly in your greeting." Tawni could almost feel Sonny's glare on her. Right now, she was too busy making sure her makeup was in tiptop shape. "So, Sonny, did you see my interview last night?"

"No." Tawni was relieved at first, but then she quickly became insulted. She turned around so that she could glare at Sonny this time.

"Why not?"

"I was on my date with Chad, remember?"

"And that prevented you from watching me on TV?"

"Sorry! Besides, Chad and I were… doing something else." Sonny got a dark smile on her face.

"I _don't _want to know," Tawni said in disgust. "So, to be clear, you didn't see my interview, at all, right?"

"Yes, Tawni, I said that."

"Good."

"What, did something happen?"

"Wha- Where did you get that idea, Sonny?"

"You seem elusive."

"I seem normal!"

"C'mon, Tawni!" Sonny pouted. "You can trust me! Besides, I'm going to find out about it anyway, so you might as well tell me now."

"I still don't have any idea what you're talking about."

Sonny gave Tawni her best puppy-dog face. "No, Sonny," she said. "I'm not telling you."

"I could look it up on the internet. In bad quality. And you won't look very pretty."

Tawni was conflicted. To tell or not to tell? "Fine," she said. "I'll tell you."

Sonny clapped her hands happily. "Yay! I love secrets! Well, if you did it on TV, it's not really a secret-"

"Sonny!"

"Sorry."

Tawni leaned in close to her. "I… I sort of told Cathy Quick about how I like Nico."

"Sort of?"

"Okay, I completely told her about my crush! I was nervous! I wanted everything to be perfect, and then out of nowhere, Cathy sends out this brain buster! And I thought she was a good interviewer, too!"

Sonny giggled. "You have a crush on Nico? Aw, Tawni, that's so cute!"

Tawni scowled at her. "Don't ridicule me!"

"Sorry. Again."

"And if Nico didn't see my interview, he's going to find out about it sometime! I mean, it's probably on the five o'clock news by now." Tawni moaned helplessly.

"Don't worry, Tawni; it's only noon."

"Not helping!"

"Sor- I mean, my apologies. Well, you can always tell Nico about your obsession-"

"Crush," Tawni interrupted. "I specifically said 'crush'."

"Fine, 'crush'. You can tell Nico about your crush on him if he hasn't seen your interview, or you can let him find out naturally."

"I honestly don't know what to do."

"Just let your soul decide what to do."

"Oh, and speaking of soul," Tawni said. She picked up the baseball bat from its hiding spot. "This is all your fault!" she shrieked.

"No, Tawni! Please don't hurt me!"

Ignoring her, Tawni slammed the baseball bat down on Sonny.

A few seconds passed. "Am I supposed to say that that hurt?" Sonny asked suspiciously.

"I couldn't really hurt you," Tawni said sheepishly. "It's a foam baseball bat."

* * *

Tawni sat on the Prop House couch and waited nervously for Nico to come in. She had texted him, telling Nico that she wanted to talk to him. The door opened, and Tawni's heart started to race. But it was only Grady.

"Grady!" Tawni cried. "Get out of here!"

"But I'm hungry!"

"I don't care! Leave!"

"Fine!" Grady retorted. He stormed angrily out.

Finally, after waiting a few more minutes, Nico walked in. "So, Tawni, what did you need from me?"

"First, did you see my interview?"

"No, I was busy searching for buried treasure with Grady."

"Why did nobody see it?" Tawni asked herself in a small voice. "Some cast members."

"Did you say something?" Nico asked.

"Nico, I have lots of things to say," Tawni said. "Like… your hat is pretty cool."

"Hey, thanks! It takes a lot of time to just pick out one hat. But apparently it's worth it."

"Right. Anyway, you might want to sit down for this next one."

"What, is the couch softer than before?"

"No, Nico, what I want to say is-" Tawni paused. Now was her final chance to back out of this. "I-"

Nico gave her a blank expression. "'I' what? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I was just waiting for someone to come in. You know how it is in movies? People like to enter at the worst possible moment when somebody's trying to say that they really like someone."

"Uh, Tawni, what are you implying?"

Tawni paused and took a deep breath. "Nico, I have this massive crush on you. I liked us as just friends when we first started out, but now that I've gotten to know you a bit more, I… I just really like spending time with you."

"Tawni, I'll admit, I like you, too," Nico said happily. "Well, I'm mainly happy at the fact that a girl likes me, but I'm glad that that girl could be you."

"Thanks, Nico," Tawni said, embarrassed. She cleared her throat. "So."

"So."

"So, now what?"

"Well," Nico said, pressing a button on a remote, "we could, y'know, have an alone moment."

A disco ball came down and romantic music started to play. They both leaned in.

"Aha!" a voice yelled triumphantly, scaring Tawni once more.

"Sonny!" Tawni cried disdainfully.

"No- Zora," she said as she exited her sarcophagus.

"What are you doing here, Zora?" Nico said through gritted teeth.

"It's like Tawni said in her interview, which none of you guys seemed to watch, by the way," Zora added.

"Thank you!" Tawni said.

"Anyway, she said that I'm always in strange places. So here I am. And like you also said, most people enter at the worst possible time. So I happily fulfilled that roll!"

"You were _eavesdropping _on us?" Tawni cried disgustedly.

"I've been in that sarcophagus this whole time!"

"So, what were you talking about when you said you knew something?" Nico asked. "No offense intended."

"I was a bit suspicious about Tawni's interview last night, so when she admitted to liking you, I knew my intuition was correct!"

"But, you just said that you found something suspicious about my interview. That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense!" Zora said dramatically, and then went back in her sarcophagus.

"Zora! Get back here!" Tawni shouted. But when she opened the door, the sarcophagus was empty.

The two left in the Prop House exchanged a scared look. "What. Just. Happened." Nico asked.

"I don't really know. But I wonder; was Zora telling the truth about her being in here the whole time?"

A tense moment occurred, and then the two burst out laughing for no apparent reason. They stopped after a while to look at each other and to grow a bit closer together.

They smiled. They leaned in. They kissed.

* * *

**So, did you like my Tawnico/Taco/Whatever you call it? Do you think I should write more of these? Now it's back to my other story. Please review! Or Zora will pop up and get you while you're sleeping. :P**


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